Letters to the Editor: Dec. 19, 2025

Weak and damaged

A malignant narcissist is defined as an individual with a personality disorder that includes these characteristics: profound lack of insight, extreme grandiosity, lack of empathy, sadism, aggression, manipulation and paranoia, coupled with a deep need to control and exploit others.

Trump supporters: Sound like anyone you know?

This is the man who opined on the horrific murders of Rob Reiner and his wife by pronouncing the crime clearly the result of the “anger (Reiner) caused in others through his Trump Derangement Syndrome.” If this absurd, witless and mean-spirited statement does not tell you exactly who this man is at his very core, you are lost.

I beg you to realize that Trump’s desire to be president of this country was never, ever about making things better for you and yours. It was solely for the purpose of satisfying his insatiable ego and his pathetic craving to — well — be a king.

I promise you that had Rob Reiner supported Donald Trump, we would be hearing golden prose about him and seeing flags at half-staff.

If we do not vote decisively to rein-in the impulses of this weak and damaged human being, by taking control of Congress away from him, we are in for three more treacherous, frightening and exhausting years. The damage Trump can do to our beloved country is beyond imagination — just as are his callous, obscene and appalling remarks about a tragedy befalling a good and decent man who just didn’t happen to agree with him.

Erma Vasquez

McMinnville

Misplaced priorities

I’ve enjoyed following the progress of the Third Street restoration project, and admire the skill and ingenuity our city planning director has shown in qualifying for state and federal grants as project estimates continued to rise. It’s too bad our planning director isn’t attempting to use those same skills to help the owners of the now 150-year-old “unrestored” buildings on Third qualify for similar state and federal historic restoration grants.

Most of those buildings look fine from the outside. but probably don’t come close to meeting 1980’s state and federal structural and fire codes, or the electrical and restroom needs of 21st century businesses. They need a renovation too.

As we’ve already seen, a full restoration is prohibitively expensive for a single building owner to attempt on his or her own.

Couldn’t the city council and planning department at least investigate the availability of pooled grants that would lower the cost of renovating Third Street buildings enough to make those projects cost-competitive with building a clone new from the ground up in tourism and hospitality districts in Carlton, Dundee and Newberg? That type of incentive would be enough to entice someone to purchase and renovate the Third Street Pizza building, which is now for sale, or make it financially feasible for the owners of the Yamhill Hotel to proceed with their project.

I feel any form of renovation grants on Third Street buildings would be a far better use of citizen funded urban renewal money than the RB Rubber/Alpine property fiasco our past mayor, city manager and city council bought without a vote of citizens in 2023. The current city council, which retains several councilors from the past regime, has voted to spend another $218,000, for the third year in a row now, searching for a face-saving solution.

Mike Colvin

McMinnville

Not a cakewalk

Now that our country is talking about launching a military attack against Venezuela, it would be smart to consider how the world has changed over the past four years with regard to superpowers bulldozing weaker nations.

Russia is in its fourth year of a war that it is nowhere close to winning. It seems the availability of an array of new weapons has done a lot to level the playing field in ground war.

In addition to more than 1 million killed and wounded, Russia has lost more than 3,000 tanks, 13,000 artillery pieces and 10,000 armored vehicles. Ukraine doesn’t even have a navy, but using cutting-edge drones and missiles, it has sunk a number of Russian warships, including a fleet flagship.

Drones, missiles, rockets and hand-held anti-tank weapons allow a much weaker nation to inflict serious damage on a superpower. And both Russia and China have recently supplied Venezuela with some of these weapons — missiles capable of sinking an aircraft carrier, armor-piercing shells allowing a single soldier to destroy a multi-million-dollar tank and anti-aircraft systems designed specifically to fight a war with the US.

There ought to be a very pressing reason for us to go to war, as there’s a good chance it could turn out to be more difficult than anticipated. We could find out the way Russia has that we’re stuck in an ongoing nightmare that’s ended up costing a lot more lives and money than we ever imagined.

Fred Fawcett

Lafayette

Sociopath at work

King Donald wants to save himself the embarrassment of another impeachment by preventing or perverting the 2026 mid-term elections.

Soon the damage he has done will be apparent to all but his true believers. The rest of us will be looking for a way out of the mess he made, and electing a new House majority to hold him accountable will look pretty attractive.

He is warming us up for a military occupation with his ICE force of masked thugs who do as they please. Expect to see them at every “suspicious” polling place or ballot drop box in November, and you had better be wearing the right hat when you approach.

In 2020, he wanted the military to confiscate voting machines, but he was deterred. Now, with the Pentagon purged of Inspectors General and officers loyal only to the Constitution, he is free to turn his personal troops on anyone who disagrees with him. His Supreme Court gave him their permission.

While there’s still no pesky Congress to get in his way, he could declare a presidential war and execute the “traitors” who object. Public executions would get great ratings, much better than grainy clips of civilian boats exploding.

Or he may choose to use the Insurrection Act to “postpone” the election until he is comfortable enough to just cancel it. As he likes to say, “Let’s see what happens.”

The country I grew up in is being dismantled by a sociopath who wants to take us back 100 years to a time when a few very wealthy people owned everything, a small class of enablers helped them run the show, and the rest of us were just the working poor. If their plan works, the billionaires will own everything again and the middle class will be a fond memory.

Bill Johnson

McMinnville

Person over process

On Dec. 8, I attended the McMinnville School Board meeting to voice support for appointing Dr. Kourtney Ferrua as permanent school district superintendent.

The board voted to approve her to this permanent position, and I am happy about that. More importantly, it voted unanimously.

After listening to board members speak about this appointment, it became clear that all the members recognized her capability. Some were uncomfortable with the process for making this decision, but even those harboring reservations about the process set that aside join in voting for her appointment.

That’s a big deal for us as a community, for the students and the people who work in and for the district.

Thank you for putting the well-being of your constituents ahead of personal reservations about process. Well done.

Cherry Haas

McMinnville

Proud proclamation

During the national Christmas tree lighting ceremony, President Trump stepped up without apologizes and told the nation to boldly proclaim the truth of this coming holiday. The president spoke of the gospel John, the light that came into the world and the fact every child is made in the image of God.

So many of us have been afraid to stand up to those wanting to dilute and dismiss the truth of Christmas, pressing us to remain silent about celebrating the birth of our Savior.

I grew up in a time where “Merry Christmas” was the happy and warm greeting you heard everywhere in December, where you were allowed to sing “Silent Night” in the schools and there was no fear of lawsuits over displaying a nativity scenes in the town square.

Those moments shaped us. They reminded us of hope, sacrifice, love and the miracle that changed the world. They weren’t acts of exclusion, but rather invitations to share in something sacred and beautiful.

To those who see the season differently, and take offense, thank you for letting us have this moment to honor what Christmas means to us. Your grace and understanding is much appreciated.

This Christmas, I will proudly and loudly say “Merry Christmas” to all. May the light that came on that holy night fill all your homes and hearts with peace and joy.

Mark Van Hoef

McMinnville